Citi Drops China Website On IPO Fee Dispute
Citigroup had initially been listed in the IPO document of Fangdd Network Group in the second position after Morgan Stanley, but did not appear on the press statement last Friday on the Nasdaq Global Market.
Citi had been hired as the second bookrunner on the Chinese group's IPO, but as both sides could not reach an agreement on the underwriting fees, the IPO arranger dropped out, «Bloomberg» (behind paywall) reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Morgan Stanley, UBS, China International Capital Corp, and AMTD Global Markets Limited were listed as joint book-runners for Fangdd's IPO.
Downsized IPO
Fangdd had cut the number of shares it sold in its IPO from seven million to six million ase= demand for its stock during its roadshow was soft.
DouYu International Holdings, which raised $775 million in July, is the biggest US IPO of a Chinese company this year while four deals from last year topped $1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Pie Shrunk, Fees Squeezed
U.S. offerings typically pay a higher percentage in IPO fees compared to most Asian countries. However, U.S. IPOs of Chinese companies have shrunk in size this year as investors grew wary about the tensions between U.S. and China, reducing fees for Asian investment bankers.
Chinese companies raised $2.9 billion in the US this year, down from the $7.9 billion raised during the same time last year.
